Thursday, July 31, 2014

Normally when I go to home depot I’m with Paul. Usually he comes with me to the paint department (because I rarely travel outside of that realm) and we spend like an hour there picking colors and then we leave. He often will pick something up elsewhere and sometimes I’ll need a large sheet of MDF board cut to size and so he’ll go with me and do all the talking. Now I’m a strong confident woman but for some reason when I get into Home Depot and am faced with all the rows and rows of things I don’t fully understand I just sort of freeze. I revert to some 50’s housewife that needs my husband to speak for me. I don’t love this, but thus far it is what it is.Last night I was at Home Depot. I was meant to meet Paul there after work but his movie plans got bumped up and so I headed there alone after dinner. This trip I wasn’t just buying paint – I also needed to buy two tools. Gulp, I was feeling nervous. I know, I know, but still, nervous. I decided that faking it until I made it was the way to be. Boldly I strolled into the store, straight to the section labeled “tools” – it seemed like a good place to start. I looked around for an employee to help me make my decisions. We were looking to pick up a sander (for furniture projects) and a staple gun (for chairs and material projects). These are tools we’ve wanted to own for a while but have usually borrowed from people – it hit us the other day, why don’t we just buy them? It’s not like we’re stopping the up cycling free furniture train anytime soon – might as well own the tools to do it. You can see some of our past adventures in furniture redo's here and here!I found the sander pretty quickly – and I would hope so! Paul had located which one he wanted me to buy, had sent me the link, and all I had to do was find this item at Home Depot. Pretty straight forward. While looking for a staple gun I ended up in the nail gun section marveling at how expensive they were (not yet realizing I wasn’t in the staple gun section) and marveling at how hard it was to find an employee! Finally after waiting 10 minutes (now it was 8:30, the store closed at 9 and I knew I still needed paint mixed!) I called Home Depot on my cell and asked them to transfer me to the tools department, I then asked the guy on the phone to come help me – and help me he did! He helped me narrow down what we wanted and pick a tool best suited for our needs. Oh I felt proud! I made it through the tool section! With only minimal help and quickly. Then it was off to the Paint section – my safety zone. There was Johnny – one of my favorite two Home Depot paint guru’s. As per usual he was super super helpful. I ended up with the paint I needed (I’m doing something similar to this which I talked about here) but it took the full half hour they were still open – thankfully they stayed open, I was the last to leave at 9:10, mixing paint isn't fast!

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

If 2013 was the year of weddings (and it was, 13 weddings in one year) then 2014 is the year of the baby or the year of the pregnant women. I mean, it’s impressive how many pregnant ladies and subsequent babies are around this year. Shocking even. It’s all baby bump, baby bump, actual baby! At one point I started an excel spreadsheet list of friends who were pregnant, when they were due and if it was public knowledge yet. It was all too much to hold in my mind. That’s a ridiculous truth. For us it’s been a joyful year – as well as one full of growing. Most people that know us know that we have been trying to get pregnant without success. Lining that up with a year of abundant pregnancies could make for an interesting year. But I will say that we are so happy for our friends, and we trust God for His timing in our lives. And so the year of baby continues – and I just found a whole bunch of photos of me and some of those babies! So, here are a few shots of adorable, sweet, babies. Oh, the babies.

Baby of the year #1: Coming in at 7lbs 7 ounces, Wyatt McCarthy was the first of the 2014 babies. Wyatt has slept peacefully through many lifegroups, engaged entire audiences using nothing but his ability to look adorable and won over all of the McCarthy’s friends. Wyatt has stepped up to the plate during long evenings of party prep by letting tired ladies hold him for some baby therapy – your service has not gone unnoticed, my friend!

Monday, July 28, 2014

Last night I whipped up some spaghetti for tonights dinner - I'll make fresh spaghetti for the house, and use some roasted spaghetti squash for myself. Then I'll pop out to visit a friend and their new baby and then head home to prep lunches.

Tuesday night is lifegroup night and to celebrate another super hot week we're heading out to Sasamat Lake as a lifegroup for some lake play and hot dog eating. It's going to be awesome! 28+ weather, great friends, food and a beautiful lake. I CAN NOT WAIT.

Wednesday: Pizza Night (Cauliflower Crust for me!)Wednesday we will be be doing the first of a few room switches - moving our furniture from the downstairs guest room to upstairs (where our new guest room will be) and moving the furniture from the new guest room into the old guest room, where the new student room will be. Then I can decorate and put the room together - we have a student that moves in on Monday! Thursday: Mediterranean Boneless Pork ChopsThursday I have two good friends coming over for dinner - this meal looked tasty and fun. I will add a rice medley (brown rice, wild rice and white rice) all served with mushrooms. Mmmmm.While I'm busy hanging out with our friends Paul will be busy moving furniture. Our student Rachel leaves Thursday and Friday our new student Sam moves in. Rachel's room was unfurnished but we will be furnishing Sam's room. Paul will move in the RAD new dresser and nightstand we got, a bed and a desk. Then after my friends leave I will be popping in to make it look great, hopefully, using cool things from around the house. I hoard bedroom decor items like it's my job. Because it is my job. Well my home job, that is. My 9-5 is an entirely different thing.Friday: Easy Roast Chicken with grilled veggies & baked riceFriday night Sam moves in! I'm hoping she and her family will stay for dinner so we can get to know her people, but they are coming all the way from Alberta and might want to taste and sample Vancouver food - totally reasonable. Saturday: Easy Garlic Chickenwith grilled veggiesSaturday night we don't have specific plans but it's a long weekend so the hope is that Saturday and Sunday we can lake it up and cycle and do fun things. Also we'll be taking an hour or so to prime a few pieces we're working on for the house.

Sunday: Dry Pork Ribs with grilled vegetablesSunday should be a day of fun and relaxation followed by church and dinner - usually someone ends up coming over! Especially on a holiday Sunday.Monday:Cilantro Lime Baked Shrimp

Monday morning I will be painting the pieces that we prime - we have two nightstands, one buffet and one secretary to paint, as well as a couple pieces of art work to create. Then in the late afternoon we'll be picking up our new Japanese student at the airport, letting her settle in while we keep painting and then we'll all eat dinner together and hopefully Paul and I will be able to finish up any painting that night. I'm really excited to see these pieces coming together.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

I couldn't decide how to title this post "Pillow Talk"? or "The most ground breaking, spiritually invigorating and full of depth post yet". It was a real toss up.Last fall I started a project. Last night I completed it. I was most of the way done back in April when my friend Laura took these photos.

I loved the way the room looked but a) the curtains weren't hung and b) I was missing a few big statement pillows, per Nancy's suggestion. We'll the curtains went up months ago but the pillows remained unfinished. The bed still looked great, the pillows I had on hand were lovely!

Tuesday night is BOTTLING night. We have ordered wine from West Coast U Brew - recently we did a batch of cider and beer and this is our batch of wine! Chilean Malbec and German Gewürztraminer; tomorrow we bottle these bad boys up! Woot woot!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Monday:Chicks-on-a-stick, Mushrooms & Zucchini stuffed with quinoa and vegetables, served with Rice.

Tonight we are having guests over - not only are these guests people we LOVE to talk to (and who are so affirming of us it's ridiculous) but also they are people that are good at life. Paul and Keith will spend the after dinner time chatting and Judy will be giving me a sewing lesson. Seriously. These guys rock.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

A while ago I'd never heard the term "mid-century" in relationship to furniture. If I would have heard it I would have assumed it meant something to do with being partway through a century or something. Then these chairs started popping up online.